Needing Each Other
by fringeperson
Summary: Humans need to believe in something. It is inherent in our natures. Those things that we believe in also need us, because without belief, they will cease to exist. Oneshot. Complete. Don't own. SarahxJareth


"I need you Hoggle," Sarah said desperately to the reflection in her mirror – a reflection that wasn't her own. "Every now and then, for no reason at all, I need _all_ of you."

"Y-you do?" Hoggle asked with joyful incredulity. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

And then Sarah turned from her mirror to see Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, the fieries, the worm... it was all the friends that she had met as she ventured through the Labyrinth, and now all gathered in her room. Of course, because the fieries were there, it _had_ to be a party. One that went until midnight.

On the other hand, because her dad had said he and Sarah's step-mother would be _back_ around midnight, the party _had_ to stop by then. All of her magical friends vanished without a trace – except that she could see them in her mirror, waving goodbye before they faded away completely.

The sound of the car in the drive ceased in exchange for the sound of the front door opening.

Her dad checked on her, and made a comment of surprise at her still being awake.

"You said you wanted to _talk_ to me before you left," Sarah answered him, just a little petulantly. So she'd done some growing up in the Labyrinth, but she was still a fifteen-year-old girl.

Robert Williams sighed tiredly. "Yes," he agreed. "I did. Sarah, you know Karen is only trying -"

"And she's succeeding at that," Sarah cut in. "Being trying. Seriously Dad, you go out every weekend."

"We do?" Robert asked, surprised. "I didn't think we went out that often."

"You do," Sarah answered firmly, arms crossed over her chest. "And then you complain about the budget like _I'm_ the one eating hundred-dollar steaks every week or buying a new five-hundred dollar dress to wear out to the restaurant you'll be eating it at, because _heaven forbid_ Karen should wear the same dress _twice_."

Karen may think that Sarah treated her like the evil step-mother 'no matter what she did', but Sarah also knew that she had a couple of justified complaints. Friday nights _used_ to be mac-and-cheesey-movies night for her and her dad. She hadn't had that for a _long_ time now, and was being subtly and indirectly blamed for the tighter money situation that wasn't her fault.

Robert winced. "Alright," he said. "I'm trying to advance in the firm at the moment, which is why we've been going out so often, though I hadn't realised just how often Honey, really I didn't," he promised.

Sarah nodded in acceptance of that, but remained silent, waiting for her dad to continue. It wasn't like she had to be up for school the next day anyway, weekend and all.

"But I suppose that cutting out the expenses of _going_ to the dinners will make the budgeting easier, and really I don't seem to be getting anywhere making small-talk over expensive food," he admitted with a sigh. "Karen... really spends five-hundreddollars on those dresses?" he asked, hoping that had been a stretch of the truth made by his frustrated daughter.

Sarah gave her dad a flat look. "She goes out with your credit card Dad," she said plainly. "And I've seen some of those dresses she wears in the windows of the more _expensive_ boutiques around town."

Robert winced again. "Well, goodnight Sarah," he said softly. "I guess I'll have to talk to Karen in the morning."

Sarah nodded. "Goodnight Dad," she answered.

Then he closed her bedroom door, and Sarah changed into her pyjamas, ready at last to sleep.

~oOo~

"Sarah," greeted a voice that was deep and smooth as velvet. A familiar voice.

She turned, _very_ aware that she was dreaming. She'd gone to sleep not long ago, and there hadn't been any sunlight lancing into her eyes to wake her up yet, for the first and second things. For a third, she was pretty damn sure that she didn't own any clothes like she was currently wearing. The whole lot was a collection surprisingly like the clothes worn by the owner of the voice that had spoken her name. Only... where _he_ was wearing colours of coal and smoke, Sarah's breeches were the same colour as her jeans had been, and the vest over her white, poofy shirt was a glittering icy green.

"Hello," she answered, with greater calm than she necessarily should have felt when faced with the powerful fae she had defied and defeated not even a few hours before.

"An interesting choice of words," he commented, his tone a little detached. "'Every now and then, for no reason at all, I need _all_ of you.' Sarah, even me?" he asked.

She took a moment to think about that, and then she nodded. "Yes," she answered. "Even you, Goblin King. Sir Didymus taught me about honour, and Ludo about acceptance and friendship. Hoggle taught me about forgiveness, and to think things through, and so much more. And you... you teach me about all of that and more. You teach me about love."

"Love?" Jareth repeated, a little breathlessly, eyebrows high in surprise.

Sarah nodded. "You taught me to love my brother," she said plainly. "And, that bit... at the end..."

"When you refused me," Jareth said, pained as he turned away.

"Girls my age _don't_ get married, Goblin King," Sarah stated apologetically, answering once and for all whether or not she had actually _heard_ and _understood_ what he had been saying. There had been some doubt there, focused as she was on remembering the right words. "They may have once, might in other places, but not this time and place. It's not _done_. Refusing you was my only choice, not just because I had to have Toby back. And I did have to get Toby back, I do remember telling you that. That wasn't a choice I could make either."

Jareth sighed, and his shoulders slumped, but he nodded in acceptance.

"Besides," Sarah continued, more business-like. "I have only seen you when you are, as you said, living up to my expectations of you. Shouldn't I know _you_ before you try proposing again?" she asked.

Jareth turned to her, an expression of mild surprise on his face, before a small smile blossomed.

"Clever girl," he said fondly. "Yes," he agreed. "Thank you, Sarah. And I would be obliged if you would call me by my name."

She nodded.

"There was another reason I came here though," Jareth said.

"Oh?"

He nodded. "You've been to the Labyrinth, Sarah. Eaten fae fruit and danced in my arms as I sang to you. You left the Underground as the first to have beaten my Labyrinth in centuries, and that even with less than the originally given thirteen hours. Where I had granted you that one certain power before, these experiences have evoked – or, more accurately, _will_ evoke – more."

Sarah's eyes grew wide. "Like?" she asked tentatively.

"Sarah, there _is_ magic in your world, Aboveground, but so very few can see it. Children with a strong belief may, but these are _young_ children, children that still have their baby teeth, and even then, not _all_ such children. Soon though, and I've no idea _how_ soon, _you_ will be able to see it, interact with it," Jareth explained.

Sarah blinked. "I'm going to guess that, like the Labyrinth, not all of the magic in my world is friendly?" she suggested.

Jareth nodded solemnly. "There is more though," he said. "Again, I do not know how fast or slow it will come to pass, but Sarah, you have always had a magic of your own, just a spark. The power I gave you to wish away a single child made it grow a little, and though the wish is gone, your _own_ power will continue to grow," he said.

"I suppose I'm going to need lessons," she mused with a slight, wry smile. "How are you as a teacher, Jareth?" she asked.

He smiled back. "As your powers grow, I will come to you in your dreams and help you," he promised. Implicit in that promise was that they would also be able to use those lessons to become better acquainted.

Sarah nodded. "Thank you," she said softly. Then frowned in thought. "Is Toby also going to...?" she half-asked, unsure how to articulate her question properly.

Jareth cocked his head a little, as though he was thinking about the answer. "He'll be able to see things," he answered at last. "And the goblins will always watch over him. He was almost mine, after all."

Sarah nodded in acceptance of that. "If anything strange happens, I'll come to you about it," she warned, and a small smile danced about her lips.

Jareth grinned in answer.

~oOo~

Sarah was in college before she saw the magic in her world that Jareth had told her was there, and had – in the five intervening years – gotten a pretty good handle on her magic. She was pretty good at contact juggling by now too. Jareth was a great teacher. He was also, when he wasn't living up to her expectations of what a 'Goblin King' should be, a great _guy_.

It was Saint Patrick's Day – a good excuse, as far as essentially _every_ other college student was concerned – to get drunk on Guinness and wear sparkly green hats.

Sarah, as she'd crossed the campus from her politics class to her mythology class, had spotted a small figure flying around, all dressed in green and with flaming orange hair peeking out from underneath his hat.

That night, in her dreams, Jareth confirmed that she had seen the Leprechaun.

Not long after that, she'd taken the opportunity presented to her by a long weekend to head home and see her dad and Toby. Karen, not long after the weekly dinners out had been cancelled in favour of mac-and-cheesey-movies Fridays, had taken all of her fancy dresses and left. And she'd wondered why Sarah hadn't liked her.

"Sarah!" Toby had greeted enthusiastically as he raced down the driveway to greet her.

"Slow down Toby!" Robert had called after him. "What if you -"

And then Toby tripped over his own feet, clumsy little five-and-a-half-year-old, and fell flat on his face.

"Fell?" Robert finished with a sigh as he shook his head.

Toby pulled himself up, and had a look of extreme concentration on his face, before he finally reached up and spat a shining white baby tooth into his palm.

"Looks like you'll be getting your first visit from the tooth fairy," Sarah told her baby brother with a smile as she scooped him up and carried him back to the house. "Hey Dad," she greeted, and kissed his cheek.

"Welcome home Honey," he answered, and took Toby from her. "How's college been so far?"

"It's been good," she said with a smile.

"Sarah, what's the tooth fairy?" Toby asked.

Sarah's shocked face met Robert's sheepish expression, and Sarah launched into the explanation of just who the tooth fairy was, and what the tooth fairy did – including what the tooth fairy did with the teeth that were collected, since Toby was a bright enough boy (and a boy who played with goblins as much to the point) to ask about that detail too.

That night, when Sarah checked in on Toby after he'd gone to sleep, she saw a little green thing that strongly resembled a humming bird dive under Toby's pillow, and come out the other side holding his tooth. When it was gone, Sarah checked very carefully under his pillow. There was a coin left behind. She hadn't really expected any different, but there was the matter of making absolutely sure – and if it wasn't there in the morning, she'd know to blame the goblins who were snuggled up with Toby in his bed.

"I saw the tooth fairy tonight," Sarah told Jareth in her dream only an hour later.

Jareth smirked at her. "About this big?" he asked, and held his forefinger and thumb about three inches apart.

Sarah nodded.

"Then you saw _a_ tooth fairy, Love. Not _the_ Tooth Fairy," he corrected with a smile. "But then, she hasn't been out in the field herself for coming up on four-and-a-half centuries."

Sarah blinked. "Okay," she said in acceptance of the stated fact, even if she didn't understand why that was.

"So Toby lost his first tooth then? That's good. It's important that his memories of childhood are preserved," Jareth said softly.

~oOo~

It was practically Easter, but Jareth had promised her that she wouldn't see hide nor hair of the Easter Bunny until Easter Sunday, as he was _very_ busy (and stressed) painting all those eggs in preparation for the egg hunts around the globe, and even then, he might decide to watch an egg hunt in a different town.

What she _did_ see instead, which surprised her, was a boy in a blue hoodie and carrying a long stick as he raced about barefoot in the snow. And then he was flying – literally – as he provided one of the kids in the neighbourhood (Jamie Bennet, a good kid who was a couple of years older than Toby) with the sled-ride of his _life_.

Sarah laughed to herself as she watched. It certainly looked like fun. She might have been well on her way to being a grown-up (college, part-time job, very serious boyfriend, and so on), but she still held on very tightly to a _lot_ of the beliefs of childhood. She kind of had to, after all. Dating the Goblin King, knowing all the stories and legends was something of a prerequisite.

And then, when little Jamie Bennet came to a stop at last, a run-away couch (dislodged from the moving van because of the ice slick that he'd been sledding on) came to a stop _on him_.

The white-haired, blue-hoodie-wearing teen winced. "Whoops," he said.

Sarah was just running over to check the kid was alright when a skinny little arm raised a tooth high over the back of the couch in triumph.

"Hey a tooth!" Jamie declared.

"Oh no," the white-haired boy lamented softly.

"Dude, that means cash!" cheered one of Jamie's friends – one of the twins, and Sarah had a better time remembering the names of goblins than she did keeping those two boys straight.

"Hey! What about all the fun we just had? That wasn't the Tooth Fairy, that was _me_!" the white-haired boy said, and then flew over them to stand in front of them. "What's a guy got to do to get a little _attention_ around here?" he demanded.

Only for Jamie and all his friends to walk right through him.

Sarah blinked. This was what Jareth had meant about not every child being able to see all the magic that there was in the world, that she would see it... And it proved just how right she'd been when she said that not all of that magic would be wonderful to see. She bit her lip, and then, because he was only a few feet away from her, she extended her hand and lay it on his shoulder.

The boy twitched sharply, stunned, shocked, surprised.

"Hey," she greeted with a smile. "I'm Sarah."

The boy blinked at her. "You... you can see me?" he asked.

Sarah nodded. "This is generally the part where you tell me _your_ name," she said. "Polite conventions of conversation, and all that."

"Jack Frost," he answered, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "But... _how_ is it you can see me?"

"I'm Fae Touched," she told him. "Pleased to meet you, Jack Frost."

"Fae Touched?" Jack repeated.

Sarah smiled, turned, and started walking. When she'd gone a few steps, she turned back to look over her shoulder. "Come on," she invited.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked as he caught up.

"Somewhere private, so I don't look like a crazy, talking to myself in the street," Sarah answered, her lips hardly moving.

"Oh."

"So, what was it like?" Sarah asked once she'd closed the door of the apartment she was renting while she attended college.

"What was what like?" Jack countered with a crooked smile.

"Going from being whoever you were before, to being Jack Frost," she clarified.

Jack blinked. "I... I wasn't anybody before I was Jack Frost," he answered, confused.

Sarah frowned. "But you must have been," she said. "Jareth, the Goblin King," she added his title for clarification, "told me a little about the process. You didn't come out of nothingness Jack."

"You mean... I... I... had a _life_, and a _family_?" Jack asked, his eyes wide. "Why wouldn't I remember that?" he demanded softly, and looked down at his hands.

"I can't tell you why, Jack Frost," Sarah admitted softly. "But I know that the Tooth Fairy keeps all the teeth, all the memories of childhood, at her palace. If anyone can help you with that, she could."

"Why do you know that?" Jack asked, confusion resurfacing.

Sarah giggled lightly. "I'm not just Fae Touched, Jack. I'm getting lessons in magic from Jareth, that means knowing all sorts of stuff," she explained with a smile. "Go on, you have questions that someone else is better for answering," she urged, and pointed to the window. "You do fly, right? I saw you earlier."

Jack nodded, and moved to the window. "Hey," he said softly as he turned back to her, one hand holding the window open. "Thanks."

Sarah nodded, and then he was gone.

~oOo~

As Jack approached Tooth Palace (and _man_ was it a long journey, but Wind had gotten him there in good time), he saw the Tooth Fairy herself taking off in the direction of the Northern Lights. Well, he saw a speck on the horizon headed that way, and couldn't see the Tooth Fairy anywhere in her palace, so he assumed it was her. He'd have to see if the little tooth fairies would be able to show him where his teeth were then.

"Um, excuse me?" he called, announcing his presence.

He hadn't expected to be nearly swarmed, only for them all to stop a foot in front of him, staring at his face with wide eyes. Actually, they seemed to be staring at... right. His teeth. Of course. He smirked, amused by the attention. Several of them swooned.

"Hi," he greeted. "Um, I'm not meaning to distract you all from your work, but could one of you please show me where my teeth are? I'd... I'd like to look at my memories, please," he requested.

One of the tiny fairies instantly came forward and tugged on his hoodie, then chirped at all the others who were still hovering there. They (slowly and a little reluctantly) dispersed back to their tasks, and the one remaining fairy guided him over to where, in the great tooth palace, _his_ teeth were all lovingly ensconced.

A little nervous of what he'd find, Jack all the same dived into the memories held by his teeth, taking his time with each one, gratefully learning about _who he was_... Until he came to the one that was immediately before he'd become Jack Frost. The memory of saving his little sister when she was on the ice, with a game, which was _so_ his style really, and of falling in himself.

But he'd _saved_ her! That... that was a really good feeling. Both at the time, and in retrospect, even if it had led to his present state.

"Thank you," he said, nearly choked on the sincerity of those two little words, as he let the tiny tooth fairy return the teeth to their place in storage.

She nodded and chirped in answer, a smile on her cute little face.

High, _high_ above the two of them, in another part of the palace, a malicious laugh sounded out, causing them both to look up sharply.

Jack hadn't ever met the guy himself, but he did know the bogey-man when he saw him. Even when he could barely see him for the distance between the part of the palace where Jack was, and the part of the palace where Pitch was. Still, there was no way that Pitch could be up to any good paying a visit here. Jack approached slowly and cautiously. No point giving up the element of surprise in case he needed it after all. He narrowed his eyes when he saw that Pitch seemed to be taking all the containers of teeth from the section where he stood – and giving them to horses made of black sand, which were also charging around stealing the tooth fairies as well as taking the teeth that Pitch was pulling out for them.

"It's about to get cold," he warned the little tooth fairy still hovering at his shoulder.

She nodded in acceptance, and ducked into the hood of his hoodie for the minimal protection it would offer her.

Jack brought up his staff, and started to spread ice, thickly, over where the teeth were being kept, freezing them safely away before Pitch could take any more. Though, from the looks of things, he'd already taken a _lot_ from this section.

"What!?" Pitch demanded, shocked by the presence of the ice, after all, Tooth Palace was in a tropical location. He turned, and spotted Jack. "Jack Frost?" he questioned, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just visiting," Jack answered lightly, and then noticed that the black-sand horses were chasing down the tooth fairies. He wasn't going to stand for that. The one had been very helpful to him, and the others were nice too, he was sure. Like an angry blizzard, he went on the attack.

"Why?" Pitch demanded, as he chased after Jack, trying to distract him.

"Because I know how important the teeth are, and even if the kids don't believe in me, I'm going to protect them," Jack answered firmly, and sent a shot of ice at Pitch before abruptly bringing his staff around to break up one of the... nightmares, he realised. That's what they were. Oh, the Sandman was going to pitch a _fit_ when he found out about these.

The fairies inside were released, and went on the attack themselves, dive-bombing Pitch every time he got close to another area where the teeth were stored, doing their best to prevent him from taking them, even as they themselves were slowly collected back up and taken once more.

The fairy that had hidden in his hoodie returned to hover by Jack's shoulder, and tugged at his hair to get his attention. When she had it, she pointed to Pitch – who had moved on to another part of the palace – and the small pile of teeth at his feet that more nightmares were quickly swallowing down and running off with.

Jack, knowing what the little fairy was getting at, quickly iced up that part of the palace as well, which got him a growl of frustrated anger from Pitch.

"Pitch!" an angry, feminine voice yelled.

Jack stood a moment, frozen in awe as _the_ Tooth Fairy herself rushed in, furious. The nightmares took advantage of Jack's inattention to capture more of the tooth fairies, and then there was a sleigh (and really, no need to guess who was driving that thing) zooming around in amongst it all, with North brandishing a sword in one hand while he held the reigns in the other.

"All the Guardians, together in one place," Pitch said from somewhere in the shadows as his nightmares took off with what teeth and fairies they'd managed to capture. "I'm a little star-struck."

"Pitch!" the Tooth Fairy yelled, trying to chase him down. "You give me back my fairies!" she demanded.

"Or what?" Pitch asked. "You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?"

Jack decided that was probably his cue to leave. The situation here was handled. All the Guardians together in one place, as Pitch had said. He'd see about tracking down the fairies and the teeth that had been taken. After all, for letting him see his memories, he felt like he owed them all, big time, even if the Big Four hadn't ever really had anything to do with him.

Which, really, was all the more reason for him to get out of there.

~oOo~

"Sarah," Jareth called as he appeared in the cosy living space of her small apartment. It _was_ small. The kitchen and living space had no dividing wall, the toilette and the shower were in the same room as the washing machine, and if it weren't for a clever application of magic, there wouldn't be room for the queen-sized bed that Sarah had in her boudoir.

"Jareth!" Sarah greeted with a smile as she stuck her head out of the bathroom, her hair a little bit damp. Clearly, she'd just showered. "Hey, this is a nice surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you until some time tomorrow," she said, even as she stepped _out_ of said bathroom – wrapped only in her dressing gown.

"Best you get dressed," Jareth said softly. "I have something important to talk to you about that couldn't wait until tomorrow, and if you don't dress, we'll never get to talking."

"Gimme a sec," Sarah answered with a smile, and ducked into her room to put some actual clothes on, as requested. "So," she said happily as she re-emerged, dressed in jeans and a shirt, and sidled up to him, arms twining around his torso when she reached him. "You're here early, as already noted, and with something on your mind. What's up?"

"I'm afraid, Precious, that it's what's _down_ that brings me Above," he answered, and his own arms wrapped naturally around her waist. "And that's belief."

Sarah's eyes widened as the implications of that sunk in. If belief was down, then... childhood characters would become too weak to be able to fulfil their duties – thus _perpetuating_ the lack of belief in them, when they failed to deliver (a terrible catch-22) – and, worse than that, the Underground would destabilise.

The Labyrith would start to crumble, its occupants begin to fade away. Her friends would disappear. The dreams of _teenagers_ would begin to slip away – because that's what Jareth did. The children had the Sandman for their dreams, but Jareth was the one who managed the more difficult, messy, transitional fantasies. Things like the 'peach dream' he had once sent to Sarah when she was in his Labyrinth as a runner.

But though it serviced the dreams of those who were a bit more grown up, those who believed they didn't have the time – or simply lacked the inclination – to believe in such things much any more, the Underground and the Labyrinth were built upon the belief of children. The belief of childhood that had matured and twisted a little. Belief that had learned that things could be dangerous even without looking like it – that things weren't always what they seemed.

"Why is the belief failing?" Sarah asked, resolve in her eyes. "And what can we do to fix it?"

Jareth smiled gratefully at her. "You truly are a precious thing," he cooed. "It's not down to dangerous levels yet," he said. "But there's been a significant dip. According to Manny -"

Sarah smiled slightly at the name. The Man in the Moon was called _Manny_. It always tickled her funny bone.

"- it's Pitch Black acting up," Jareth finished.

She was a big girl now. A grown woman. And she owned an iron baseball bat – special order – because, much as she loved Jareth, he wasn't the only Fae out there, and cast iron baseball bats worked on more than just the Fae. Still, Sarah's smile dropped instantly. "The bogey man?" she clarified, eyes wide, but with shock rather than fear.

Jareth nodded.

Sarah thought about that a minute, and then her eyes widened again, this time with worry. "Toby?"

"Presently has goblins watching him around the clock, just in case," Jareth assured her.

She relaxed visibly. Living even just a few suburbs over for the sake of privacy and higher education, she still went back to her dad's house every Friday after classes for mac-and-cheesy-movies night, and spent most of the following Saturday catching up with her dad while they played with Toby together. Just because she didn't live with them any more, didn't mean she didn't care about them. And she did. A lot.

Which still left the question –

"We _are_ going to do something to stop him, right?" Sarah asked. "Get the belief back up again?"

Jareth smiled. "Yes," he agreed with a nod. "Thank you, Sarah. We won't be alone in the fight either," he added.

Sarah nodded. "The 'Guardians of Childhood' you told me about," she guessed, though it wasn't so much a question. "If belief is down, it's got to be hitting them – oh no," she said, eyes going wide. "_Easter_!" she realised.

"Yes," Jareth agreed. "The rabbit will likely need some assistance."

Sarah smirked a little at Jareth's tone. It was full of mischief. It was the same tone he'd used when he'd said "Oh, you didn't?" back when she'd told him she didn't mean to wish Toby away. He knew it perfectly well, and was simply driving home that she had said it. Sarah avoided saying anything she didn't mean any more.

"Will we be painting eggs?" she suggested coyly.

Jareth's answering smile was pointy. Then again, his _teeth_ were pointy. But not every smile of his drew attention to that fact. One arm unwound from around Sarah's waist, and a crystal appeared in his gloved hand.

"His Warren isn't too far from the Labyrinth," Jareth said breezily. "It would be nothing at all to visit. It's just a jump to the left after all."

"And then a step to the right?" Sarah asked, and eyebrow raised. "I should never have let you watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Jareth laughed, lobbed the crystal at Sarah's front door, and then opened it onto a completely different vista than the hallway of the floor her apartment was on.

Sarah whistled, impressed, by the scenery. "Very green," she complimented as she walked through.

"Well, the Easter Holiday is about hope, new life, new beginnings. The rabbit is something of a representative of the beginning of spring, of course his habitat would reflect that," Jareth said, though he was also looking around himself in appreciation as he closed Sarah's front door behind himself.

"Only in the northern hemisphere," Sarah reminded him. "Easter is an _autumn_ holiday below the equator."

Jareth hummed in a sort of non-committal agreement. "Yes Precious, but those parts of the world in the _south_, where people actually live, are generally very temperate still in the fall. Mostly," he countered.

Sarah just smiled and let the subject drop. "Speaking of seasons though, I met Jack Frost today," she commented.

"You did?" Jareth asked, surprised.

Sarah nodded. "Saw a boy walk right through him too. I invited him back to my place for a chat, and promptly sent him on his way to Tooth Palace when I found out he had no memory of who he was before he became Jack Frost," she answered.

Jareth wrapped his arms around her waist again, pulling her backwards into his chest, and kissed her cheek tenderly. "You did a good thing then, my love," he said, warmth all through his tone. "I like Jack Frost, even if I've never actually met the boy myself. He knows how to have fun."

Sarah giggled, and agreed. She had seen that sled ride earlier in the day after all.

"So, are we painting eggs or what?" she asked with a grin.

Jareth smiled back. "Ah, but what shall we paint _on_ the eggs, Love?" he asked.

Sarah blinked, big-eyed and innocent, just like she was fifteen again. "Why, surely we'd paint on all the figures of fairy tale who need belief to continue from one day to the next," she answered, "and that means the goblins, and if we're painting goblins, then we'll not have to be concerned with any two eggs looking the same for some time."

Jareth laughed. "Good answer," he said, and offered his hand.

Sarah set hers in his, and let him guide her deeper into the Warren in search of eggs to paint. They would use magic to actually paint them.

~oOo~

After having left the Tooth Palace, Jack tried to follow the nightmares, but they were _fast_. On top of that, they were running him in circles at the same time. Frustrated, he gave up the chase and headed back to Burgess. He wanted to thank that woman, Sarah Williams, for her advice. He _knew who he was_ now! He didn't know why the Man in the Moon had made him Jack Frost, and the guy was still keeping quiet. No clues on how to get people to believe in him, to be able to see him. No answers as to why _him_, of all people...

Jack sighed to himself as he hovered outside of Sarah's window. Sarah's _dark_ window. She was either asleep (reasonable, considering the hour) or out (also possible given her age). Well, it looked like he couldn't thank her... or ask her if she knew where the bogey-man hid out so he could rescue the tooth fairies that had been caught, a thought which had occurred to him as he flew back to his home town.

"Oi!" a voice yelled. "Frost!"

Jack turned in surprise, his staff down and ready to cause frostbite. It was raised again soon enough as he smiled, and relaxed when saw who it was. "Bunny!" he greeted easily as he drifted down to street level. His attitude in almost direct counterpoint to the scowl on the giant rabbit's face. "Hey, what's up?"

Bunny shifted a little uncomfortably. "Lots of stuff," he admitted tightly. "And like it or not you're involved," he added firmly, and pointed a boomerang at Jack. "Fellas," he called.

And two big hands came down on Jack's shoulders before he was summarily lifted and dumped into a sack, staff and all, which was then thrown through a magic portal. Well, he didn't know about that _particular_ detail until he landed again and pulled himself out of the sack to find that he was in Santa's Workshop.

"Hello Jack," Tooth said, immediately appearing in front of his face. "I've heard a lot about you, and your _teeth_!" she enthused. "Are they really as white as snow? Oh, they _are_!" she admired as she pulled his mouth open to look. And then she backed off a bit. "I didn't get to say thank you before, for helping my fairies and protecting the teeth. So, thank you Jack."

"Ice over tooth stores is still good," noted North, Santa Claus himself. "Fairly safe to leave Tooth Palace unguarded, even with Pitch on loose."

"You all didn't have me stuffed in a sack and shoved through a magic portal to say 'thank you'," Jack stated bluntly. "You're welcome, by the way," he added to Tooth. "I was there anyway. Are all the little tooth fairies okay?"

"Some are missing still," Tooth answered, clearly worried for them.

"We had to do some collecting to keep the belief in the Tooth Fairy strong," Bunny quipped.

"Lost Sandy to Pitch while doing so," North added solemnly.

Jack's eyes went wide. He'd never gotten to personally meet the Sandman, but he'd seen his work every night, and he'd _liked_ watching the golden sand stream through the night, sticking his hand in it more often than not and watching as something came into being. Some fantastic dream playing around him before the sand continued on to bring dreams to children.

"A good number of the fairies are okay and still working, but the loss... It's hard on all of us, even if we do have to keep going," Tooth said softly. Then she frowned a little in consternation. "Why were you there Jack? Not that I'm not grateful, I _am_, but I'm confused," she asked, head cocked to the side in curiosity.

"Someone I just met today told me that the teeth kept memories, and that you even had _mine_. Until a little earlier today, my life started when I came _out_ of a frozen lake and was told my name," Jack answered with an awkward shrug. "That's why I was there."

Tooth's eyes went wide, a little glassy, and both of her dainty little hands came up to her mouth to stifle a gasp. "All that time, I had no idea... Jack, if I'd known, I would have helped you sooner," she promised.

Jack shrugged again. "Well, you didn't know, but I'm okay anyway," he said, a little uncomfortable, and so shifted his attention back to North and Bunny. "You still haven't told me why I was stuffed in a sack."

"Why? Because, I tell you why. Now, you are Guardian!" North proclaimed happily. Behind him, two yetis raised flaming torches, and around his feet the elves did a very impressive marching band effort.

They were, however, getting very much ahead of themselves. Yes, he'd saved his little sister back when he was human, but a Guardian? _Him_? No way. And he told them so. He had to stop the party – his particular brand of magic was good for that though. A nice cold draught to put out the torches, and strong enough to send the elves sliding on the icy coating he'd created on the floor.

"What makes you think I want to be a Guardian?" he demanded. "You're all hard work and deadlines, and I'm all snowballs and fun times," he continued before they could come up with any sort of argument. "Being a Guardian, what you guys do, you're all _way_ too serious for me. Pick someone else!" he said firmly, and headed for the stairs, rather than a window that was his fastest way out of there.

He had, after all, been trying to break in for the better part of three hundred years. Now that he was finally _in_, he was going to take a look around.

"Pick?" North demanded before Jack got very far. "You think _we_ pick? No! You were chosen, like we were _all_ chosen! By Man in Moon," he said solemnly.

Jack's shoulders slumped and his head fell slightly forward. Well, _there_ was a reason for his being made Jack Frost. Three hundred years after the fact. "And why couldn't he tell me that himself?" he asked softly. Then he shook it off. "No, three hundred years of not a word and now this? I'm expected to shut myself away and spend my time figuring out new ways to bribe kids? Oh no, that's not for me!" he said sharply, glaring through the skylight at the moon. "Uh," he added, turning to the people who'd had dragged him there. "No offence."

"How is that not offensive?" Bunny demanded. "You know what, I think we just dodged a bullet. I mean what does this _clown_ know about bring _joy_ to children?"

"Uh, did you ever hear of a 'snow day'?" Jack asked pointedly, rather than bringing up that clowns were supposed to be the characters in a circus specifically supposed to bring laughter and joy to children. Then again, there were some pretty creepy clowns out there too, so some kids were more scared of clowns than entertained by them.

Actually, 'clown' was a pretty good description of Jack Frost, now that he thought about it. He brought the fun times, but he also brought the blizzards that were less fun. He was equal parts joyous and scary, he supposed.

Any further argument was cut off when Tooth gasped rather loudly. "The lights are going out!" she exclaimed, and drew everybody's attention to that fact.

"It's Pitch," North growled. "With Sandy out of way, Pitch's nightmares can go wherever they please!"

"What's so important about the lights?" Jack asked.

"Every light is a child," Tooth answered. "A child who _believes_. We protect them. That's what being a Guardian is."

"Good or bad, naughty or nice, this is our duty," North added solemnly.

"Not a bad gig I suppose," Jack allowed with a slight smile as he recalled how he'd taken care of his sister when she was scared, how with a little game, a bit of fun, he'd put a smile back on her face and made her safe at the same time.

"We can still turn this thing around!" Bunny insisted, drawing their attention from the globe to him – him and his confident little smirk. "Easter is tomorrow. I say we pull out all the stops and get those little lights flickerin' again!"

"Aw heck, count me in," Jack agreed. Then he smirked. "And I promise there'll be no blizzards this Easter," he added.

"Oi," Bunny said warningly, boomerang in paw. "You're lucky I'm gonna need all the help I can get for this."

"Right," North said, and led the way out to the workshop – the part that Jack had wanted to look around at anyway. "Just this once," North said with solemnity. "Easter _is_ more important than Christmas."

Bunny's eyes went wide. "You all heard that, right?" he checked, looking between Jack and Tooth (who both nodded), and then at the yetis gathered around.

Jack resisted laughing at Bunny's expression. He had a feeling that the Easter versus Christmas debate was an ongoing one between Bunny and North.

"To the sleigh!" North ordered.

"Oh no," Bunny countered, getting in front of North. "My Warren, my rules. Buckle up," he said with a smirk, then tapped his foot twice – which caused a massive hole to open up underneath them all.

North and his yetis – as well as the few elves that had been standing near enough – all fell down directly, as per the laws of gravity. Tooth, having been hovering, had to dive. Jack had also fallen initially, but he quickly gained control and a grin spread across his face as he treated the whole thing as the biggest and best _slide_ he'd ever ridden on, though he was aware of Bunny bounding down past him and over-taking him.

Jack landed on his feet when he came out the other end, and of course Tooth was hovering again, unruffled. North, on the other hand, was part of an untidy pile of limbs as he'd fallen out in a heap with his yetis.

"Buckle up, is very funny," he said, with some sarcasm, and then pulled himself upright.

"Welcome to the Warren," Bunny said grandly, and giant stone eggs with faces stood up and walked over. Bunny turned abruptly, ears swivelling and nose twitching. "Something's wrong," he announced softly, and pulled out his boomerangs.

North drew his twin swords, and Jack brought his staff down in a position ready to freeze whatever the disturbance was. Pitch, naturally at this point, a suspect. With an inarticulate war-cry, they charged.

~oOo~

Not long after arriving at the Warren, Sarah and Jareth had found Sophie. Or more accurately, Sophie had found them. They'd been painting the eggs with the images of fairies of all different sorts (the kind that bit and the kind that took the teeth away both, just to name a few), as well as cheeky little goblins, rabbits of course, flowers, all sorts of things. They'd managed to make a good pile of eggs too.

They'd been distracted from their painting fun – and laughing teasing of the other's artistic capabilities (even with magic, there was a disparity in artistic skill) – when a swirling magical portal had opened up not more than ten feet away from them, and the little girl with her bright green eyes and the messy blonde hair that hung over one of those eyes, and her soft but warm pyjamas had walked right through it.

Sarah had recognised the little girl – she did babysitting around the part of Burgess near her apartment for extra cash – but Sophie was _far_ too busy being fascinated by the little white eggs with _legs_ to notice her sometimes-babysitter.

"Precious?" Jareth asked softly, willing to defer to her on the matter of human children, especially since the whole, well, with Toby.

"It may be past her bedtime, but I don't see how her being here for now will be a problem," Sarah answered, just as softly.

"She'll come to no harm here," Jareth agreed with a nod. "The Warren isn't like the rest of the Underground. She probably won't even have a touch of magic to her when she goes back, though that depends on what she gets up to."

"I'll keep an eye on her as she grows," Sarah promised. "In the mean time though, it will affirm her belief like nothing else," Sarah added with a smile. With a little extra up-tick at one corner, Sarah conjured a crystal that turned into a polaroid camera, and took a snap of the little girl crouched down and staring at the eggs, standing on their own and surrounded by flowers and greenery.

Jareth nodded again, a content smile on his face.

They both kept an eye on Sophie out of the corner of their eyes as they painted though, to make sure she didn't get into too much mischief. Considering that mostly she just chased the small clutch of eggs as they carefully ran away from her, they didn't worry. Not even when she followed them through a tunnel a while later.

Then they heard the war-cry.

A war-cry that abruptly cut off before they'd even finished scrambling to their feet.

"Ah," Jareth said. "That must be Bunny back, with reinforcements to help with the painting and distributing. Pitch is making them jumpy."

"He's the bogey-man," Sarah pointed out. "That's the effect he's supposed to have on people."

Jareth chuckled. "Indeed, Precious Thing, indeed," he agreed with a smile. "Shall we see how they're doing, faced with a toddler? I'm sure it will be amusing," he offered, and extended an elbow for Sarah to take so that he could escort her through the same arch that Sophie had gone through.

"_Waah!_" Sophie's wail reached them as they stepped into the tunnel.

"Blood and gums?" a voice (that Sarah recognised as Jack Frost's) asked incredulously. "When was the last time any of you guys hung out with kids?" he asked.

"I get the feeling that Sophie has just been cured of her fairy phase," Sarah whispered to Jareth.

He nodded in silent agreement as they stepped out of the tunnel, but not yet into sight.

"We are busy bringing _joy_ to children!" another voice objected. "We do not have _time_... for children," he continued, suddenly less sure as he heard what he himself had said.

Sarah and Jareth rounded one of the large stone eggs then, and were able to see the others gathered there, though their focus was still Sophie as she dragged an elf around or chased the eggs.

"If one little kid can ruin Easter, then we're in big trouble," Jack said, and sent a carefully crafted snowflake past Sophie (she chased it) to land on Bunny's nose.

Jareth and Sarah both watched as a change came over Bunny's whole expression, visible even through the fur. They nodded to each other in approval of the action that Jack had taken, and then watched as Bunny swept Sophie up onto his shoulders, making her laugh happily.

"Bunny! Hop, hop, hop!" she cheered happily, and buried her fingers in his fur as she snuggled against his head.

Bunny was actually about to dash off to start the egg painting with Sophie on his back when he spotted Jareth and Sarah.

"Sophie, manners. What do you say when you want something?" Sarah asked pointedly. Little kids needed to be taught manners after all. Had to be reminded almost constantly, in fact.

"Please," Sophie answered. "Please Bunny? Hop?" she asked, much more nicely, and twisted her little body about to try and see his face when she was perched behind his head.

Bunny chuckled and obligingly hopped, straight up and down, once. "Want to paint some eggs?" he asked her with a conspiratorial sort of whisper – that really, everybody heard.

"Yay!" Sophie cheered in answer.

"Jareth, you'll have to excuse me and do introductions later, I've got an ankle-biter wants to paint some eggs," Bunny said, nodding to Jareth solemnly before the grin returned and he took off into the Warren where the painting would happen.

"No formalities?" Sarah asked Jareth, a small smile tugging at her lips. She knew he wasn't one to stand on ceremony if he could help it.

"Not with him," Jareth answered, a wry smirk of his own forming on his face. "Back when we met, he was too friendly to let them stand, and since then, well... Habit, my love."

Sarah nodded in understanding. "Well, back to painting, I suppose," she said. "Jack, good to see you again."

The white-haired boy bobbed his head. "Hello Sarah," he answered. "I guess this is why you weren't at your house when I stopped by to thank you for your advice? You were here?"

Sarah smiled and nodded in confirmation. "That's right," she agreed, and gestured for Jack to walk with her and Jareth. "Jareth my love, this is Jack Frost. Jack Frost, His Majesty the Goblin King," Sarah presented.

Jack blinked a couple of times as he took the title in.

"Pleased to finally meet you," Jareth said first, and smiled one of his more friendly smiles.

"Likewise," Jack finally managed to get out.

"Don't stand about," Jareth called over his shoulder to North. "We have millions more eggs to paint and deliver, and only tonight to do it in. I may have a good deal of... _lee-way_ with time, shall we say? But it _does_ tire me to manipulate it so boldly, and I have plans for the morrow that require I be well rested."

North and the yetis hurried to catch up.

~oOo~

Sophie had been given an egg, personally, by the Easter Bunny. Beautifully painted and handed over with a bonus hug, before Sarah took the little girl back home and tucked her into her bed. Jareth used his crystals to transport all three of them together, but it had been _Sarah_ that cradled the little girl in her arms – careful of the egg that said little girl cradled in _hers_.

"Jareth," Sarah said softly as she looked down at Sophie in her bed, "do you think someday that we could have a little girl like Sophie? With your wild blonde hair and my green eyes?"

Jareth wrapped his arms around Sarah's waist and pulled her snugly against his chest. "There are few things that would make me happier," he answered her tenderly. "I think you should probably introduce me to your father before that happens though Precious."

Sarah chuckled softly, and nodded in concession of the point.

"Let me walk you home?" Jareth asked softly.

"A proper walk, under the street lights, or will you be using magic?" Sarah asked with a slight smile.

"Well, some magic to get us _to_ the street," Jareth conceded with a smirk of his own. "But then as you say, just walking down the street under the lights, like any other romantically inclined couple."

Sarah smiled and agreed to his terms. The pair happily enjoyed the chilled air of the early spring evening as they walked down the street to her apartment, blissfully unaware of what Pitch was up to at that very moment.

They would find out soon enough the next morning.

Unfortunately, as the eggs left the tunnels to head Above to the children, Pitch struck – and he struck _hard_. While they had all been helping with the eggs, they had effectively (and unintentionally) left Tooth Palace unguarded. Pitch simply had to bide his time, waiting until the ice had melted in the tropical conditions.

He took advantage.

He took the tiny tooth fairies that were still working frantically. He took the rest of the teeth that he had been unable to steal before. As if all that weren't enough, he also sent his nightmares to stamp on the colourfully painted eggs as they emerged from the tunnels. Piles of broken shells were all that remained of the brightly, delicately painted perishables.

~oOo~

The nice thing, Sarah mused, about dating the Goblin King as opposed to, say (just for an example) Jack Frost, was that the Goblin King was Fae. People didn't have to believe in him to be able to see him. Jareth was capable of controlling exactly how tangible or intangible he was at any given moment, and since they were out on a date together, walking in the park and watching as the kids sought out eggs – Toby and Sophie among them – Jareth was as deliciously tangible as he had been when he had slipped into her bedroom that morning (and into her bed, where they had shared in activities that had kept them from leaving the apartment until the afternoon... she really needed to introduce him to her dad).

"Sarah, I can't find any eggs!" Toby complained as he ran up to her, and tugged on her sleeve to get her to bend down once he reached her.

Obediently, Sarah crouched down to her little half-brother's eye-level, even if it meant she had to let go of Jareth's arm to do so. He understood. Frankly, he cared about Toby just as much as Sarah did, though his feelings for the boy were more parent-like than elder-sibling-ish.

"I even asked the goblins to help me look, but they couldn't find any either, and they can always find stuff!" Toby whispered in her ear. At a more normal volume, he asked the dreaded question with great despondency. "Did the Easter Bunny not come?"

"There's no such thing as the Easter Bunny!" insisted one of the older kids. One of those twins Sarah had an impossible time telling apart.

"He's real!" Jamie Bennet insisted. "I saw him!"

"He isn't!" the other twin countered, standing by his twin.

"It was just a dream, Jamie," said a skinny girl Sarah knew to be called Pippa. "You should feel lucky you still get those. Instead of..."

"Nightmares," finished a larger girl known around the neighbourhood as 'Cupcake'. It wasn't actually her name, but it was what she answered to all the same.

"Is that true Sarah?" Toby asked softly, his eyes big with fear that it would be.

"It isn't," Sarah asserted. "The Easter Bunny _is_ real," she informed him softly, surely. "You can ask Sophie," she said.

Part of her knew though that he probably wouldn't, since Sophie was only three, and Toby was five-and-a-half-year-old, and boys who were five-and-a-half-year-old didn't have anything to do with girls if they could help it (unless they were big sisters who were awesome and could see the goblins too).

"She somehow got into the Easter Bunny's Warren last night, and I got asked to bring her back home again. She's got one egg in her room that was a personal gift," Sarah continued, backing up her reasoning. Just because Toby was five-and-a-half-year-old didn't mean he was stupid. Their dad was a lawyer, they knew about being able to back up what they said if they needed to.

"Really?" Toby asked, wide-eyed.

Sarah solemnly drew a cross over her heart. "You find Dad and the two of you go home and get out of the cold," she advised. "Jareth and I will find out what's happened with the Easter Bunny, okay?" she offered, and looked up at Jareth to check that he was alright with the plan.

He nodded solemnly.

"Alright," Toby agreed. "You've never lied to me Sarah, and the goblins all say there should be eggs, so I believe you, but... find out soon?" he begged cutely.

"Just so long as you believe in the Easter Bunny," Jareth promised solemnly, himself crouching down to look Toby in the eye, "and the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Clause, and the Sandman, and dwarves and monsters and magic and goblins," he added with a slight smirk.

Toby laughed a little, but covered his smile with his hand shyly.

"We will find him," Jareth promised solemnly.

"But it's important that you don't stop believing," Sarah reaffirmed to her little brother. "If you stop believing, then even when we find the Easter Bunny, you won't be able to see him. You have to believe," she said intently.

Toby smiled. "I can do that," he promised in return, and held out his pinky finger.

Sarah wrapped her own around Toby's extended digit, and they shook on it.

"Alright Squirt," Sarah said, and pushed herself to stand – Jareth echoing the motion at her side.

The goblin standing beside Toby straightened to attention.

Sarah and Jareth both smiled.

"Go find Dad, and get out of the cold," Sarah ordered fondly.

Child and goblin ran off, and the smiles dropped from Sarah's face and Jareth's both as he conjured a crystal. Or rather, as he tried to conjure a crystal, and failed.

"No..." Sarah breathed, eyes wide and worried as they were fixed on Jareth's empty hand. "No!"

"Sarah," Jareth said firmly, and took hold of her shoulders. "This is just the first stage. It can still be fixed from here. It can! That I cannot call upon my crystals simply means that the Labyrinth is not permitting me to use magic that it needs to keep itself stable," he explained.

Sarah breathed deeply, and forced herself to calm down. The Labyrinth hadn't collapsed. That was good.

"You, Precious, are going to have to be the one to use the magic," Jareth said softly.

"Me?" Sarah echoed, surprised, and then she started to think it through. "Because I'm not quite part of the Labyrinth like you are. I'm still human. The magic I have is mine, not the Labyrinth's. Okay," she said, and drew another deep breath in. "Okay," she repeated as she breathed out.

Just at that moment, Jack Frost flew over their heads.

He banked hard a few feet away, then turned and flew back to them.

"I've found Pitch's lair," he said quickly, his breath short and his big blue eyes frantic as he conveyed the message. "It's just outside of town."

"Lead the way," Jareth said firmly.

Jack took off. Behind him and on foot, Jareth and Sarah followed at their respective top speeds, both wearing grim expressions on their faces.

~oOo~

As they manually unlocked all of the cages that the tooth fairies were trapped in, all three were very conscious of the globe off to one side, and the golden lights that were going out all over it. Just a few at first, then more, and faster and faster still more of those precious gleaming specks vanished until there was just one slightly large spot of light in the space that Sarah knew indicated Burgess, the town where she lived.

The town where Toby Williams and Sophie Bennet both lived and still believed, their two little lights so close together making one slightly larger one.

"Jamie!" Jack said, which surprised both Sarah and Jareth.

"Huh?" Sarah asked. "Why Jamie?"

"He apparently caught _all_ of the Guardians in his room while they were collecting teeth," Jack answered with a slight smirk.

"I do recall one of the children at the egg hunt today claiming they had seen the Easter Bunny," Jareth noted with the air of recollection.

"That was Jamie Bennet," Sarah confirmed. "Sophie's older brother."

Okay, so that meant it was actually three little lights close together, rather than only two. That was good. It still wasn't enough though.

Not for sustaining belief. Not to keep the tooth fairies flying, their little wings pumping as fast as those of a humming bird. Not to keep Santa feeling young enough to pop up and down millions of chimneys in one night. Not to keep the Labyrinth from slowly crumbling as the foundations of childhood belief were pulled out from under it.

The Labyrinth would last a bit longer, since it saw to the fantasies of teenagers, rather than children, and teenagers weren't the sort to believe in the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy or Santa anyway. It would still crumble eventually though, if the children didn't believe _enough_ during their formative years to continue imagining things as they grew older.

"Jack, you lift Jareth and me out of here," Sarah said firmly. "Then we go and get Toby, Sophie, and Jamie, and we keep them safe."

The two men-types (not human, but men-types all the same) nodded in agreement with her plan, and Jack stuck out his staff for the older Goblin King and the younger (though she didn't look it) Sarah Williams, to hang onto. A little help from his old friend Wind, and they were up and out again.

~oOo~

Sarah collected Toby, while Jareth went to quietly and subtly fetch Sophie. Jack was going for Jamie.

"Jack Frost!" Jareth heard from down the hall, and smiled. It seemed that Jack had finally found a believer of his own, with whatever was going on in the young boy's room. Gently, he collected Sophie into his arms.

Time wasn't of the essence yet. Sarah would be bringing Toby (and a few prop weapons she kept in her apartment) over to the Bennet house soon enough. Jareth listened, a parental sort of proud smile on his face, as Jack held a conversation with a child that, for the first time in three centuries, wasn't one-sided.

"Jamie?" his mother called from the hallway. "Who are you talking to?"

"Jack Frost?" the boy offered.

The woman laughed. "Okay," she allowed, and the sound of her footsteps continued down the hall.

Jareth shifted Sophie so that she was riding on his hip (which suited the little girl just fine, as she played with the tips of his hair), and stepped into the hallway, and then across to Jamie's room. The thunder that crashed outside had nothing to do with his entrance. This time.

"Jack," he called softly, drawing the white-haired youth away from the window for a moment.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Time to go. Jamie?" he asked. "We need your help."

"My help?" Jamie repeated.

Jack nodded.

"I'll explain," Jareth offered. "You go."

Jack nodded again and leapt out the window.

Jareth offered a hand to Jamie, and led the boy out of his own house out to the street, where North's sleigh had just crashed and where Sarah was waiting with Toby – prop sword in her hands sharpened by magic.

"The last Lights," North said when he took in the sight of the children.

"Wow! It is you, I mean it _is_ you! I knew it wasn't a dream!" Jamie declared, and looked back to Jack happily.

"Jack, he _sees_ you," North said softly, pleased for the young spirit.

Jack smiled. Yeah, it was a great feeling. "Wait," he said, as he noticed... "Where's Bunny?"

"Losing Easter took its toll on all of us," North answered solemnly. "Bunny, most of all," he said, and stepped aside.

There, a regular-sized rabbit, with Bunny's markings, hopped up onto the edge of the sleigh.

"That's the Easter Bunny?" Jamie asked incredulously.

Sophie didn't ask, she simply wiggled down from Jareth's hip and ran over to collect up the rabbit in her arms lovingly.

"Now someone sees me!" Bunny complained from Sophie's arms. "Where were they an hour ago?"

Jareth chuckled. "The backlash got to you Bunny," he said. "You still have believers, and Jamie believing is particularly thanks to Jack. Give it time, you'll get back on your game."

"We don't _have_ time!" Bunny growled. "Pitch has nearly completely taken over! Wait..." Bunny blinked as he stared at Jamie from Sophie's arms. "Jack got you to believe in me?" he asked.

Jamie nodded.

Bunny turned to Jack – still in Sophie's arms. A silent look of gratitude and understanding passed between them, only to be interrupted by another roll of thunder and crash of lightning.

"Get the kids out of here," Jack ordered, and took off, clearly intending to take the fight to Pitch.

Bunny hopped out of Sophie's arms and took the lead. Unfortunately, this led them to a dead end, but it meant they were well situated for when Jack crashed down, defeated.

"That was good try Jack," North congratulated with a pat on the back. "A for effort."

"He's stronger," Jack said as he pulled himself to his feet. "I... I beat him back once before, but I can't now."

Pitch's dark laughter echoed around them. "All this fuss over three little human children," he cooed. "And still they refuse to stop believing. Very well. There are other ways to snuff out a light," he said, and the shadow of his hand passed over the alley lights around them, breaking the bulbs and making it darker.

"If you want them, you'll have to go through me!" Bunny declared angrily.

"Look how fluffy you are," Pitch answered, a much _larger_ shadowy hand stretching across the ground to tickle at where Bunny stood. "Would you like a scratch behind the ears?"

Bunny ran back to Sophie and leapt into her arms. "Don't you even think about it!" he ordered back, pretending he hadn't been unnerved by the proposition, but instead was only deeply offended by it.

"I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see you all like this," Pitch said as he rode up on the back of one of his nightmares, other, riderless nightmares flanking and following him. "You look _awful_," he said with a wicked, pleased grin.

Sophie held Bunny tighter to her chest, Toby clung to Sarah's hand a little tighter, and Jamie edged back away from Pitch.

"Jack," Jamie said softly. "I'm scared."

"I know, but you're gonna be alright. We're gonna have a little fun instead," Jack answered, and stood up, new resolve in the set of his shoulders.

"So what do you think, children?" Pitch asked. "Do you believe in the Bogey- ugh!" he exclaimed, as he took a snowball to the face.

A chuckle escaped Jamie, who quickly clamped down on it. Sophie giggled freely. Toby, still holding Sarah's hand, cheered "Do it again!"

"Let's go get your friends," Jack suggested, and iced the road while Pitch was still concerned with the snow in his face, and passed around some junk that would do as make-shift sledges.

"You think a few children can help you?" Pitch demanded when they eventually came to a halt in the middle of town. "Against _this_?!" he added with a fierce gesture at the incredible veritable wall of nightmares he had gathered, and a vicious smile on his face.

"They're just bad dreams," Jack reassured the children softly.

"We'll protect you," Bunny added, in all his cute, small, fluffy, twitchy self.

"Aww, you'll protect them? But who'll protect you?" Pitch demanded, derision in every syllable.

"Through dangers untold," Sarah said, stepping up.

"And hardships unnumbered," Toby added, coming to stand by his big sister, resolute.

"I will," Jamie said, and stepped up with them.

One by one, the other children stepped up as well, clearly intent on protecting their magical heroes.

"Mortals are truly incredible," Jareth stated, almost lazily. "They can over-come _anything_, given the right incentive."

"Still think there's no such think as the Bogey Man?" Pitch asked with a sneer.

"I believe in you," Toby answered. "I'm just not scared of you!"

"Get them!" Pitch ordered his nightmares.

First contact however, proved just how powerful humans could be. The black, rushing sand turned gold when it struck against the outstretched palms of Sarah, Toby, Sophie, and the other children, and swirled back.

Tooth's wings started working again. North's youth was restored. Bunny wiggled in anticipation of returning to his previous stature.

Jareth smirked to himself as he felt the Labyrinth stabilise again, enough that he would be able to draw on its powers. He did so immediately, but instead of using that power to attack Pitch, he used it to summon the sand. He wasn't Sandy, and he generally used bubble-like crystals for his dreams, but he could work with sand.

As each nightmare was defeated, he gathered more sand and sent more pleasant dreams out to children. Dreams of fairies, goblins, the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Sandman, unicorns, dragons, and knights defeating monsters. Any nightmare that tried to attack him, Jareth took firm hold of, and incorporated the hint of fear into the dreams that he wove, so that the victories over the monsters was all the sweeter for the dreamer, all the more powerful as the children defeated the fears themselves.

Sarah never left his side as he made the sand dance around them, her prop sword in her hands as she slashed at any nightmare that tried to attack from behind. Even if the battle had moved to the rooftops. Even when Pitch was thrown down to the road. He wasn't near where she and Jareth were, so she didn't both with him, though she did keep an eye out.

Then, suddenly, there was a great concentration of golden sand spinning around like a cocoon beside Jareth, and a great whip of sand lashed out from it and pulled Pitch to be on the ground by their feet.

Sarah turned, and watched as the sand formed a figure. A plump little man, all golden, and with such an expressive face. Silently, he chided Pitch, and then threw him up in the air, still holding onto the other end of the whip.

"Sandy," Jareth greeted.

The little figure tipped a bowler hat he conjured from sand, then dismissed it, and tugged Pitch back down. Little sand butterflies fluttered around Pitch's head when he landed, face first, in the snow.

~oOo~

The children, the Guardians, and Jack Frost celebrated Pitch's defeat with a snowball fight once Sandy had reaffirmed belief in all the children around the world by sending them dreams, powerful enough for the little tooth fairies to be able to call upon the memories in the teeth again and fly those teeth back to the Tooth Palace.

Sarah and Jareth, however, stood over Pitch's prone form.

"There will always be children who are afraid of monsters hiding under the bed, or in the cupboard, or the basement or the attic," Sarah said softly.

Jareth wrapped his arms around Sarah in an offer of comfort. "I would offer him a place in the Labyrinth, but he is a monster of childhood, rather than adolescence," he said. "And, I'm sure he would try to usurp my power."

Sarah chuckled softly. "You're probably right," she agreed. "It just... seems such a shame. He went to such lengths just to be believed in, to be seen. He must be so lonely."

"I agree with you Precious," Jareth told her gently. "But what can we do?"

A snowball struck his back then.

"You can come and play for one thing!" Jack Frost called cheekily.

Sarah and Jareth smirked at each other, and both conjured a crystal at the same time. Both orbs quickly frosted over, and were thrown at the young spirit.

"You _dare_ have fun in my presence!" demanded a voice behind them some minutes later. It seemed that Pitch had woken up. "I am the Bogey Man! And you will fear me!" he decried, only for Jamie to run through him, just the way he'd walked through Jack not long ago.

"No..." Pitch breathed, and then started to run.

Jack and the Guardians took off to make sure Pitch wouldn't come back. Sarah and Jareth stayed behind to make sure that the children wouldn't follow. Dawn was fast approaching, and while the kids were all wide awake right now, they _did_ need more sleep yet.

"You'll see them again," Sarah promised each of them as she tucked each child back into their beds, having walked directly into their rooms without disturbing their families thanks to a bit of Jareth's brand of magic. "The next time you lose a tooth, or with Christmas comes, or next Easter, and Jack Frost will come and go as he pleases. I'm sure the others will visit in their off-seasons as well. I'll even make _sure_ that they do," Sarah assured them.

"Me visit?" Sophie asked, and Sarah knew that this one little girl meant that she wanted to know if she would be able to visit them, rather than the other way around.

Sarah chuckled and smiled. "I'm sure it can be arranged," she agreed.

"Thanks for finding the Easter Bunny Sarah," Toby said as he drifted off to sleep in his bed.

~oOo~

"Sarah," Jareth called as she came down from tucking in her little brother. He had two cups of coffee in his hands. One for her, one for him.

Sarah accepted hers with a grateful sigh and a happy smile. "Thank you Jareth."

He nodded. "You're welcome. Sarah, I was wondering... might we take this opportunity to... introduce me to your father?" Jareth asked hesitantly.

He and Robert had seen each other in passing, and Robert knew Jareth to be both a friend of his daughter and good with Toby, much as Jareth knew that Robert was Sarah's father, but they hadn't yet been officially introduced.

Sarah smiled. "I think that's a great idea," she answered, and kissed his cheek. "But later," she decided. "I want to go to sleep, then wake up to you beside me, and then we'll have breakfast and come back here for lunch and I'll introduce you to Dad then. Okay?" she suggested.

Jareth smiled in answer. "Very agreeable."

~The End~


End file.
